FROGS (1972)
Article #548 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 9-14-2002
Posting date: 2-7-2003

Frogs on an island organize the animals to attack the family of a curmudgeonly tycoon.

For those of you interested in making a movie the caliber of FROGS, here are some big hints.

a) Shoot a scene of some character in the movie walking through the woods.

b) Have the camera pan away from that person to the frog (or lizard/amphibian of choice) looking hostile (or just looking, for that matter).

c) Repeat the above shot with slightly different characters and locations a hundred times.

d) If you can’t pan to a convenient animal, just edit in a shot of a frog.

e) Also, make sure to give each character at least one line of dialogue that establishes him or her. Don’t develop them much further than that; after all, they’ll be frog fodder before long, so who cares what they’re like.

f) Remember, if an idea is good once, it is good several times in a row. Therefore, if you have someone looking at a scary animal and screaming, it’s a good idea to have them do it again and again and again in quick succession.

There. Now you should be able to make a movie just like FROGS.

I remember the ads for this movie years ago with the shot of the frog with a human hand hanging out of his mouth. In its own way, this ad had a kind of witty silliness to it. If only the movie had a modicum of that wit.

And remember; a protracted death scene can be either harrowing or dull. I’m afraid the ones found here fall on the wrong side of that line.